


Kissing Skylines

by starbboy



Series: waiting for it, that green light [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Green Lantern - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Getting Together, Injury, M/M, cursing n stuff, guy and harold finally get their shit together and its cute bc im a dumb fluff author, he's also just a very tired wingman, its the scar, jason acquires more people to hug, no beta we die like jason todd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25716709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbboy/pseuds/starbboy
Summary: Guy smiles sympathetically at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way Hal’s only seen them do around the Lanterns or Jason. Hal tries to smile back, he’s sure it doesn’t come out much better than a grimace.“C’mon Jordan.” Guy says, nudging him, “Let’s get you home.”aka Guy invites Hal to his Thanksgiving as a thinly veiled intervention, pining ensues.
Relationships: Guy Gardner & Jason Todd, Guy Gardner/Hal Jordan
Series: waiting for it, that green light [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774906
Comments: 25
Kudos: 239





	Kissing Skylines

**Author's Note:**

> listen. I am british/flemish. The only american person i know is my friends mum. What am i doing writing a Thanksgiving fic (in July/August no less)? I have no Idea just take it  
> I hope you enjoy pls chalk any inaccuracies up to them being uncultured not me being ingorant thanks
> 
> EDIT: [@wave-doodles](https://wave-doodles.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr made this wonderful piece of [fan-art](https://wave-doodles.tumblr.com/post/625923987282771968/rooftop-serenade-click-for-better-quality) inspired by the series! Go check it out!

“Hal.”

The man in question starts, sitting upright and shuffling so he wasn’t slipping off the bar stool anymore. He blinks, looking around and trying to jog his brain. He was sitting in Warriors, gripping a glass of beer in his hand. The bar was mostly deserted, only a couple stragglers hanging around, spread across a few tables.

“Hal.” The voice said again, rough and bemused. Hal turns to see Guy Gardner in front of him, glass empty beside him and hand on his hip. “You in there?”

Guy, as always, is breath-taking in a way Hal hates to admit he loves. He’s standing behind the bar, softly illuminated by the greens and whites that stand out prominently on Oa. Hal always thought that green light was unflattering, that it made you look gaunt and pale but watching as Guy moves, slow and in constant action beneath them he can’t help but think his opinion has changed somewhat. 

Guy isn’t in his uniform but instead wearing a black long sleeved shirt rolled up to his elbows and a pair of worn jeans. It’s simple, boring even, doesn’t really hold any of Guy’s usual style but somehow Guy still makes it look beautiful. He’s beautiful.

Hal wonders how Guy’d react if he leaned over the bar to kiss him right now

“Jesus Christ, you alright Hal?” Guy said, waving his hand in front of Hal’s face.

It’s been four months and he hasn’t gotten over him. Or made a move.

“Shit- yeah. I’m cool. Zoned out for a bit.”

He’s sure John knows, maybe Kilowog too, he’s not the most subtle. 

“Sure. I ain’t that boring to listen to, am I?”

Barry mentioned he seemed distracted recently. Hal managed not to tell him that it was because every time he saw red hair, Guy’s smile appeared in his mind.

“No! It’s- uh- not you.”

This whole thing was stressing him out slightly.

“Jeez, you really are out of it, aren’t ya?” Guy says, raising his eyebrow. “Lemme finish up with the glasses and I’ll take you to your place.” 

Hal just nods, he realises belatedly that everyone else has cleared out and that Guy is in the middle of closing up. Oa doesn’t really have a day and night time, everyone runs on their own schedules and day lengths, but Warriors opens and shuts like any regular Earth bar would (or on whatever hours Guy wants to run on) so some aliens learn to adapt. 

Hal hasn’t been in a while, just too busy to think about it half the time, even if he so desperately wants to just go there and take a break. He’s sharing Justice League duties with John and got caught dealing with some crazy inter-sector war for a while so he’s pretty fucking tired. 

He downs the rest of his beer and lets Guy take the glass from him, washing it up as the faint music in the background comes to an end. There’s a small constant buzzing that started up about half an hour ago in the back of his brain, it’s a bit irritating, but it soothes him. Maybe he shouldn’t have drunk that beer, or the two he had before it, when he’s tired alcohol always makes him more tired. He’s surprised he hasn’t just flopped down into an exhausted heap yet.

Guy smiles sympathetically at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way Hal’s only seen them do around the Lanterns or Jason. Hal tries to smile back, he’s sure it doesn’t come out much better than a grimace.

“C’mon Jordan.” Guy says, nudging him, “Let’s get you home.”

The Sector House isn’t really home, for all the clutter and photos he has hung around the place, he’s never really considered it home. Coast City is the location he most considers home but he hasn’t been there in a while. In his life of uncertainty and constantly being on the move, he’s stopped really thinking of home as a place but rather the people and things he’s with. Home to him is more the Lanterns than Oa and more Carol, Tom, Barry, Ollie and his friends than Earth. 

He gets really sappy when he’s tired, wow. He should stop.

He’s still able to walk, he’s not that drunk or tired, but Hal takes the arm Guy offers him to lean on anyway. He doesn’t know why they don’t just fly. It’s a nice night, he supposes or maybe Guy just wants to stretch his legs, Hal isn’t going to contest him.

“What are you doin’ for Thanksgiving?” Guy asks out of the blue. His voice rings out, overpowering the constant low hum of energy on the planet. It’s in a couple days, but Hal hasn’t bothered to give much thought to it. 

“Nothing.” Hal answers simply, Guy looks at him sharply, brows furrowed.

“You’re just gonna sit in your apartment alone then?”

“Not going back to Earth.” 

Guy’s makes a face. “Thought the Smurfs gave us all the a-okay? Want me to complain?”

He still isn’t getting it, and Hal probably should let the conversation die, shouldn’t explain it to him in further detail but there is something about Guy that makes him want to spill his deepest secrets and everything before that too. Might be the ex-councillor thing, maybe Hal’s just super gay for him, who knows.

“I’m staying up here by choice, Guy.” Hal admits, straightening up as Guy adjusts his grip on him. “Saw all my friends last time I visited and I’m not up to seeing my family, so I’m staying up here.”

Guy doesn’t look too pleased about that, for some reason that Hal can’t decipher. His lips are pursed and the smile lines on his face aren’t visible anymore. Guy always looks older, more tired when his face is neutral - you can see more of his experiences weighing down on him. His face is so expressive that it’s worrying to see him so close to blank.

“And whatcha going to do up here?” He asks steadily.

“Same thing as normal? Patrol? Missions?” Hal really isn’t sure where Guy is going with this, whatever he’s saying isn’t helping though, since Guy just looks more put off, frowning deeply.

“Careful, when the wind blows, you’ll be stuck like that.” Hal tries to joke, it doesn’t help.

Guy sighs but some of expressions soften, the harsh lines of his face morphing into something more friendly, yet still undeniably annoyed.

“D’you want to come visit Jason with me for Thanksgiving?” Guy says eventually. They’re near Hal’s place now, although Hal has the feeling he won’t be going inside for a bit. The question is so completely unexpected that he stumbles as he hears it. Guy’s eyes have widened slightly too, so Hal doubts he fully meant to say that when he opened his mouth.

“What? Why?” Hal asks, confused. He’s not the paranoid type but he’s sure there are some ulterior motives at play here.

Guy winces, picking at his lip with his teeth. It’s one of his rarer habits, Hal has noticed you can tell how stressed Guy’s been by the state of his lips. He’s been spending more time than usual staring at them lately. Something curls in Hal’s stomach when he realizes he’s probably the cause of this stress but he tries to ignore it.

“You’ve been overworkin’ yourself-”

“No, I haven’t,” Hal retorts. It causes Guy to sigh again, although somehow this sigh feels more sarcastic.

“Hal,” He starts, flicking his eyes over Hal’s face tiredly, “You have. You’re swayin’ on your feet right now. An’ you got racoon eyes now.” One of Guy’s hands jerks as if to cup Hal’s face before flickering back down to his hip. “You’re overworking yourself and you need a break. A proper break. Not just some ‘hangin’ around on Oa for a bit’ break.”

Hal hates the way that he easily accepts that Guy is right, he wouldn’t do it normally even now he’s figured out he’s in love with the idiot. There is just something about the way Guy is standing in front of his house, worrying about him with genuine care in his voice and still holding onto his arm gently that makes him melt. 

Gosh he really is sappy, isn’t he?

“Sure,” he says, faux critically, he still has appearances to keep up, “And what does this have to do with going to Earth with you?”

Guy’s grip tightens around his waist almost unnoticeable as he shrugs. “Thought I might offer. We’re not doin’ anything for the holiday, ‘cept for Jason cookin’ some stuff. Figured you’d want to take a break somewhere where there aren’t any reminders of what you’re missin’.” Guy moves to step away from Hal, “If you don’t wanna come it co-”

“Fuck! No, Guy, I want to come!” Hal reaches out towards him again, “Wanted to know why you were asking first.” He wanted to know that Guy actually wanted him around, but he’s not going to mention that.

When Guy smiles with a light that seems brighter than that of the Sun, Hal knows he has made the right choice.

* * *

Once they reach a spot close enough to land to get signal Guy texts Jason to let him know about the extra guest. Hal floats next to him as he looks out for any planes/birds/flying metahumans/etc.

The weather isn’t great today, Hal can see dark clouds looming forebodingly in the distance and the wind is picking up slightly but Hal is still able to enjoy what he can see of the view. Land meets the sea at an abandoned coastline to his right and skyscrapers jut out creating an irregular horizon in front of him. It’s about midday, the two left in the morning, but the sun is only visible as a haze through the clouds above him.

Guy woke him up gently this morning by bursting into his apartment singing _Space Oddity_ off key. Now that Hal knows he’s singing badly on purpose it only makes listening to him worse and Guy is unfortunately loud enough for Hal to hear him through his pillow. He did make Hal a sandwich as an apology, but that doesn’t mean Hal can’t or won’t be grumpy about it. They passed John on their way on the teleporter, he was staying up on Oa over the holidays, since he’d come back from leave a week ago. When saying goodbye to them he gave Hal his patented _‘you will be explaining this’_ look, which was fair - Guy was notably secret about his house and life on Earth, Hal knew now that it was because of Jason but he could understand John’s curiosity. John then smirked and told them to “have fun” so all feelings of understanding and solidarity immediately flew out of the window.

The wind whips around them in a way that would be deafening without the ring’s help. Hal’s slightly too long hair whaps his face as the wind tangles it, he brushes his hand through it impatiently each time it hits his eyes. After a while he constructs a hair tire out of annoyance, some of the hair falls out of it but it does the trick. He’s sure he looks a sight though.

Guy finishes his text and puts away his phone (which is dwarfed by the size of his hand, something Hal finds endlessly amusing) looking up at Hal.

“Right! Off w-” He cuts off, looking at Hal with an oddly fond expression.

“What?” Hal says defensively.

Guy grins, cocking his head to one side. “Nothin’. You look cute.” He reaches to ruffle Hal’s hair, effectively defeating the point of the hair tie. Hal shoves him in response.

They’re still nudging each other slightly when they’re standing outside the apartment door, waiting for Jason to open it because Guy left his keys on Oa.

(“Jason doesn't like it when we use the window.”

“We used the window last time?”

“You passed out in my arms last time. It was an emergency.”)

Jason opens the door after a bit, looking almost the same as when Hal saw him last. There’s a small new scar above his eyebrow and he looks a little paler but other than that nothing has changed. He smiles when he sees them, his lips curling into a small tired grin as he moves forward instinctively to hug Guy. The man is built well, he has a shit ton of muscle but is pretty slim, not unlike Hal, however he still manages to get completely engulfed by Guy when they hug.

They pull apart and Jason’s green eyes flick over to Hal, who waves awkwardly. Jason just snorts and pats him on the shoulder before moving inside.

“How’s everythin’ Jace?” Guy asks, tugging his shoes off, the two of them dematerialized their uniforms when they landed, leaving them about ten minutes away from the apartment in T-shirts and jeans.

“Quiet.” Comes the short reply.

“Mm?” Guy questions, taking Hal’s bag from him to move it to the bedroom. It’s mesmerising watching them interact, there always seems to be different layers of communication going on at the same time. He’s seen them talk while also using sign language and has picked up on them using smaller gestures and expressions to get points across silently, if the mood called for it. It’s something from Jason’s side for sure, Hal has never seen Guy do this with anyone else but he wonders what brought it on.

Jason sighs “Voice acted up earlier this week but it’s fine now.”

Guy taps twice near his collarbone, tilting his head and Jason nods. 

Guy smiles then, but it’s not at all happy or friendly. He looks pissed off, it’s not directed at Jason or him, thank God, but rather some outside source that Hal is desperately curious about. He doesn’t get any explanation or clue as to what it is since all Guy does is swear in a mock whisper and pulls Jason into another, crushing looking hug.

Hal feels a little awkward just standing by the door so he moves over to sit on the arm of the sofa. It doesn’t make him feel any less awkward or curious but it does allow him to rest his feet after his gruelling ten minutes of walking.

Guy pulls back after a bit and grins, messing up Jason’s curly hair. 

“Hey! Oven’s on, whatcha bakin’?” The redhead says, moving to the kitchen.

Jason snorts, “Brownies, supposed to come out in a minute, you wanna do it?”

“Sure” Guy replies, grabbing the oven gloves.

Jason moves over to Hal as Guy busies himself with the Brownies. He leans on the back of the sofa and smiles genuinely at him.

“How’s it all?” He asks by way of greeting. Hal knows what he’s referring to.

“The same.” Hal replies, Guy is three meters away from them at best, he’s not getting into specifics.

Jason hums, it sounds a little distorted for some reason. The boy pauses and rolls his head, showing off that gruesome scar Hal saw last time. It looks lethal, Hal thinks it might be from when he died.

“You made him pizza.” Jason continues in a quiet tone.

“You've been watching us?” Hal asks, confused. He _had_ made pizza, twice actually - once for the four of them and once on a quieter night in Guy’s apartment, with just the two of them. But that had been up on Oa, how did Jason know?

Jason raises his eyebrow and snorts, “Guy told me last time he was down here. Thought it was great, kept bringing it up. Told ya he’d love it.” 

Okay, yeah that makes more sense. But it doesn’t stop Hal from feeling slightly dumbfounded. Sure, Guy had been pretty fucking happy when he had made it, but he hadn’t focused too much on it - there are more important things to talk about than pizza.

He’s used to the warm feeling that settles in his chest when he hears Jason say those words now, it’s a common visitor in Hal’s life. Jason nudges his shoulder and grins at him before turning back to the kitchen to see Guy shoving an entire brownie square in his mouth, effectively ruining whatever moment was going on.

Guy looks up to see Jason staring at him and falters for a second before putting his hands behind his back and smiling innocently, it would be a lot more believable if his mouth weren’t clearly full of brownie.

“Guy! Those are for later!” Jason admonishes, moving over to whack the other man gently with a towel. Guy snickers and tries to dodge, moving out the kitchen as Jason inspects the damage. He moves to sit by the counter, only to be stopped by Jason and his trusty towel again.

“Nuh uh. You lost your brownie rights, you gotta stay far away now.” 

Guy is driven back to the sofa, where he flops down in a mock huff.

“Kids these days, huh?” He says, looking up at Hal who still hasn’t moved from his spot on the sofa arm. Jason throws the towel at him.

Guy shuffles over, giving Hal space to join him on the sofa, switching on the TV. At the same time, he drops something into Hal’s lap and looking down he realizes it’s a slightly crushed piece of brownie. He looks up to see Guy grinning at him crookedly before turning towards the screen as if nothing happened. Hal loves him so much.

Jason joins them after a bit, he still looks grumpy but the fact that he immediately leans into Guy when sitting down kind of juxtaposes it. Sweet kid (even if he denies it), he and Guy are good for each other.

It’s more noticeable with Jason, the poor boy is in desperate need of a hug and someone who won’t judge him for what he’s done in the past. He needs the stability of trusting someone who isn’t hyper trained and intelligent (not that Guy isn’t smart but he’s not Bat level) who is able to treat him gently without treating him like glass. He never really knew the kid before, but he can smell the trust issues on him from a mile away and the fact that he’s able to trust Guy so openly, without fear or expectation has to mean something.

But Hal knows Guy, they’ve been friends for years and worked together for longer. They ended up in the kind of profession where there really is no privacy from those like you so Hal has gotten a good understanding of Guy as a whole. Jason has helped him too, in a quieter, more unsuspecting way. He gives Guy a purpose to go back to Earth rather disconnect from his home planet entirely. Guy drops all self-defensive acts around him, Hal doesn’t know if it’s unconscious or because there were just no acts put up to begin with him. Guy needs to take a break from someone who isn’t entirely him and Jason gives him them.

It’s mutually beneficial in a solid safe way, there isn’t any doubt between them that this arrangement isn’t good. They exist in this comfortable secure space without judgement.

Hal feels pride bubble in the bottom of his stomach when he realizes that they let him in, they let him see this and stay. Hell, they invited him back!

He settles against Guy’s other arm, trying not to think about how naturally Guy reacts to it, pulling him closer absentmindedly, as he continues to watch the screen feeling slightly lighter than before.

* * *

Being the lazy idiots they can be, they end up ordering takeout. Guy was halfway through convincing them that brownies are a perfectly acceptable and rounded evening meal before Jason suddenly sees sense and orders something for them to eat. They still make their way through Brownies afterwards, managing to spare about a quarter of the batch for later.

Jason eventually moves to the armchair allowing the other two to stretch their legs tangling them together obnoxiously. Guy flops his head back at one point to grin at Jason upside down. 

“You got any plans Jace?”

Jason is lounging in a way that makes it look like the chair is carrying him bridal style, feet kicked over one arm, back leaning against the other. He pauses glass placed near his lips and looks at the two of them thoughtfully.

“Depends, how long are you two staying?” He asks, kicking his leg out to nudge Guy in the face.

“We got about 5 days off.” Guy replies, sticking his tongue out to try and lick Jason’s foot.

Jason moves to hit his feet on the back of Guy’s head, unwilling to admit defeat.

“Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so we do that shit then.” He begins eloquently. “Got nothing planned for most of Friday or Sunday to Tuesday, that’s up to you.” 

“And Saturday?” Hal asks, Guy is too busy trying to attack Jason’s foot.

“Checking something out for Roy. You have the place to yourselves.” Jason grins.

Hal chooses to ignore the second part of that. “How is Roy? And Lian?”

“Good, met up with them last month. They seem fine. Lian isn’t too ha-” Jason cuts himself off shriek, scowling down at Guy. “Ew! Guy!”

Guy is cackling, and Hal can only assume he managed to lick Jason’s foot, which is gross but Guy seems to be proud of himself, he’ll let him have this moment.

And he does not get a moment longer because Hal uses Guy’s moment of distraction to use his own foot to whap Guy in the cheek. Guy yelps in surprise and almost drags the two of them off the sofa. Jason, however, looks delighted by this turn of events.

“Fuckin’ traitor, whose side are you on.” Guy grumbles.

“I never said I was on your side in the first place!” Hal argues, poking Guy’s foot.

Guy pouts, “Thought it was an understood thing.” He looks back at Jason, who’s giggling like he’s having the time of his life, “Jason, truce? Help me out here!” 

Jason smiles down at him before adopting a serious face, “I have no sympathy for footlickers,” he says, in a cold monotonous voice.

There’s a beat of silence, then Hal snorts and suddenly all three of them are giggling wildly. Hal’s stomach is beginning to hurt now but he can't stop.

The laughter dies down after a bit and Hal finally gets to take a breath.

“Oh man,” He says, wiping the tears from his cheeks, “That was so dumb, what the fuck.”

Jason is curled up in the chair, clutching a pillow to his stomach and shaking, threatening to start laughing again at the smallest of gestures. His smile is small but his eyes sing with silent laughter as he tries to calm himself down, little giggles still escaping here and there.

Guy, on the other hand, is silent. His face is red and he’s grinning wildly, head tilted back to face the ceiling. The area under his eyes is damp and somehow it just makes the unnatural green stand out more. Once again Hal is struck with the realization that Guy is beautiful.

He only realizes he’s been staring when Guy locks eyes with him and smiles. Guy leans forward, their legs still awkwardly tangled.

“You look exhausted Hal, c’mon, let's sort out the bed.” He says, roughly, clicking his tongue disapprovingly at the end.

“It’s not that late,” Hal protests, admittedly slightly childishly.

“It’s half past eleven. And we got up early.” Guy replies manoeuvring his legs.

“You made me get up early,” Hal retorts.

Guy shoves him lightly, “Same difference,” he shrugs, moving away.

Hal fully prepared to share the bed with Guy when he accepted the invitation. He fully accepted it, Jason was certainly all for it and unless they had decided to somehow add an extra room to their sixth floor apartment in the four month gap since Hal had been here last there was really no other arrangement for them to sleep in. But despite his certainly at it he still gets butterflies in stomach then they’re getting ready. 

The two of them cram into the bathroom to brush their teeth, trying to stake their claim as first person there in an awkward manner which ends with Guy exiled to the shower for most of their time there. He only gets out when he threatens to spit his toothpaste at Hal, sticking his head under the tap in an unorthodox manner to wash his mouth out. Hal watches him with a mixture of fond amusement and slight disgust from the door.

Jason looks at them with an eyebrow raised as he watches them stumble down the halfway, pushing and shoving each over lightly. Guy breaks away to say goodnight, hugging Jason and kissing the top of his head, Hal hi-fives him on the way past.

They climb into bed quickly, it’s cold out and this room doesn’t have great heating so Hal cocoons himself immediately. Guy snorts from his side of the bed, they’re lying on opposite ends, even though Hal knows they’ll no doubt wake up right next to each other.

“Night Hal,” Guy whispers, watching the lights go off in the living space as Jason heads to bed.”

“Night.” Hal replies, before shifting slightly and letting himself drift into sleep.

* * *

Guy wakes up cold and alone, which he sulks about for a good minute before reading the alarm clock and realising that it’s 11.47AM and that functional people would have been up hours ago.

He overslept and he didn’t have a set time to wake up. Isn’t that great!

He stumbles out of bed adjusting his shirt which got twisted at some point in the night before ruffling his hair in the mirror and walking out to the kitchen. Jason and Hal are both already awake although Hal still looks half asleep. He’s hunched over the bar, mug in hand and drowning slightly in a hoodie that is definitely Guy’s while he chats to Jason. The younger is unsurprisingly wide awake and active, moving around the kitchen with his general aura confidence. He’s explaining something, waving the spatula in his hand around wildly as he talks, Hal is looking up at him with a lazy smile, eyes fixed on a point not bothering to follow Jason’s movements but listening to him, nonetheless.

He’s glad the two are getting on, not that he ever doubted they wouldn’t. There is just some anxiety that comes with introducing two very important people in your life to each other, it’s why he put it off for so long. It’s the only reason he’s glad Hal got injured, it kills him to see the other man get hurt but the situation threw all worries out the window as he single mindedly focused on helping Hal

They stop when they notice Guy, he thinks Hal’s smile widens when he sees him, Jason just waves and grabs his mug down to make coffee. He walks over and slings his arm over Jason’s shoulder, swaying both of them slightly in greeting.

Jason snorts and shrugs him off gently, “Sleep well?” he asks in a tone that Guy thinks is the vocal equivalent of a raised eyebrow.

Guy grunts, hip checking him and picking up his coffee, “You coulda woken me up earlier.” 

“But we didn’t.” Jason replies, switching on one of the hobs. Guy looks over to Hal, who just shrugs with his mouth full. The one downside he’s noticed of Jason and Hal being friends is that they gang up on him frequently. 

Guy sits down next to Hal on a barstool and grabs an apple. 

“Anythin’ you guys wanna do today?” He asks.

Jason hums distractedly, “Why don’t you take Hal to see some stuff in the city? Not much’ll be open but you can walk around.”

“Is this your way of saying you want us out and away from the kitchen?” Guy answers cheekily, Jason’s sheepish grin relays all.

“Thanks Jace, real kind. We can do that if it’s cool with you Hal?” Hal nods in response, hair falling in his face, “Okay. You don’t wanna join us for a bit at the start, Jace?”

Jason shakes his head. “Nah, gonna focus on cooking, have to save my voice too.”

Guy makes a small concerned noise, “Scar acting up?”

“As of this morning, yeah.” Jason sighs. Sometimes Guy really wants to punch Batman. Well, all the time, but sometimes he wants to punch him extra hard for the shit he did to Jason. The boy had said he didn’t want Guy to start a fight for him on that behalf, but Guy is sure that with some consideration and help from Talia he can find a loophole that lets him deck that smug bastard's face.

Hal on the other hand looks worriedly confused, Guy suddenly remembers he doesn’t have any context for the situation.

“What?” He asks, eye’s flicking between the two of them. Jason tenses up almost imperceptibly, Guy only notices because he knows what to look for.

 **Tell. Him?** He signs to Jason, it’s the most accessible way of asking without Hal being clued in. Jason frowns and exhales noticeably.

**Yes. Not. With. Me. There.**

Okay, that’s understandable, Guy can work with that. He’ll explain it to Hal when they’re out. The man in question is looking even more befuddled, face twisting in confusion.

“What?” He repeats.

Guy places his hand on Hal’s “I’ll tell you later,” he tries and luckily Hal realises the atmosphere of this situation and lets it go.

Breakfast is a little tense after that, nothing they can’t work through but the elephant in the room puts Guy on edge. Jason’s movements seem a little more jerky, in the way that only happens when he’s worried. It pains Guy that even after all this time, he thinks people will hate him for a situation that he was the victim of. That isn’t to say Guy completely agrees with what Jason did on that night, but he can see where the boy is coming from and throwing a knife at your son’s neck was still a completely unnecessary move _Batman._ Well, Jason isn’t his son anymore but Guy digresses. 

He kisses Jason’s forehead and gives him an extra-long hug when they leave and makes him promise to text if anything happens.

It’s chilly outside, nothing that they can’t manage but it’d be stupid of them to leave the apartment without a jacket and scarf at least. Hal is wearing his dad’s jacket, Guy would be worried if he didn’t, and Guy has his ratty flannel one that somehow still keeps him warm despite the numerous patches he’s sewn into it. He’s had it about seven years now, a lot less time than Hal has had his, but Guy never took great care of it.

He has no plan on where to take Hal, he can only think of about 3 places that would be open on Thanksgiving and the Park is only fun until you start to shiver so he’s at a bit of a loss. It’s not like they have to be out for ages, it’s around half past twelve now and Jason is nothing if not efficient in the kitchen so he won’t take a long time. He’ll probably be done cooking by three, but two and a half hours can be a lot longer than it seems when you don’t have much to do.

Hal stops when they reach the end of the street, turning his head back towards Guy. The wind whistles through his hair and he has a half-smile on his face, it reminds Guy of those cliché POV shots in movies. Hal’s eyes were shining with barely concealed affection, he’d been looking at Guy like that a lot lately, it was making it harder for him to forget he was hopelessly in love with Hal.

“Where to, Gardner?” Hal smiled.

“Uhh. The Park?” Guy answers awkwardly. He’s a lot better at thinking on the fly in the heat of battle, sue him

“Do you not have a plan?” Hal questions amusedly.

“Plan? Who do I look like, Bats?” Hal grimaces when he says that. “But nah. Didn’t think about what to do after Jason said it.”

Hal huff and runs his hand through his hair, Guy can see his breath form a cloud in between them.

“Let’s just walk around then, see what we can find?” Hal says smiling. God, this entire conversation feels like a cliché in the best of ways. Something warm and comfortable curls at the bottom of Guy’s stomach and he nods. 

“Sounds great,” he manages to breathe out. Hal grins and grabs his hand tugging him across the abandoned street.

After about half an hour of walking they find a Denny’s that’s still open, one or two people sitting around on their own. They’re both itching to get out of the cold and undeniably slightly hungry so they head in.

Guy orders a milkshake and Hal gets pancakes, Jason’s cooking a shitton of stuff for later and they don’t want to be too full to eat it. Guy slurps at his milkshake obnoxiously while Hal throws crumpled up pieces of paper from his pockets at him in retaliation. The irony that they’re probably the oldest people here yet they’re acting like children doesn’t go unnoticed to Guy. The other two customers and workers are mostly tired students who didn’t want to go home or couldn’t afford it. Hal gets a bit of paper into Guy’s milkshake so Guy picks the paper out with his finger and leans over to wipe the mess on Hal’s cheek, revelling in Hal’s shocked expression. Whether it’s from the coldness of the milkshake or surprise at Guy’s actions doesn’t matter, it's really funny to see.

“If this was how I was gonna be treated I would have stayed on Oa.” Hal grumbled, wiping his face with a paper napkin.

“Can’t take a bit of milkshake Jordan?” Guy taunts. Hal pouts for a second before leaning over the table and wiping maple syrup on Guy’s nose.

“Motherfucker.”

“Can’t take a bit of maple syrup Gardner?” Hal mocks, grinning wildly. His nose is tinged pink and his jacket is wrapped around him snugly, he looks adorably stunning.

They finish their food without transferring any more food onto each other's faces but they do engage in a very serious kicking battle and Guy steals at least a fifth of Hal’s pancakes. All round a successful late lunch detour. Guy’s nose still feels sticky but that’s the price he supposes he has to pay.

Around five minutes after they leave Denny’s they’re walking through an abandoned square closer to the centre of town. They’re in between conversations, in that awkward space of silence that always seems to reappear no matter how close you are to the other person you are talking to when Hal shifts uncomfortable.

“So, uh.” He begins, lacking confidence uncharacteristically, in a way that puts Guy on edge. “What was up with Jason this morning, is everything alright?”

Guy winces wandering over to a nearby bench, Hal follows him silently.

“You saw the scar on his neck, right?” Hal nods silently, Guy can already see the gears beginning to turn in his brain.

“Yeah, well. It damaged his vocal chords pretty bad when he got it. Healed up eventually with some serious help and it’s usually fine, but-” Guy takes the moment to sigh, “Sometimes it acts up, couldn’t speak when I met him. Guess it’s been going funky lately as well, doesn’t happen often, never for long but it ain’t great for him to go through.”

“I can imagine,” Hal whispers, he looks horrified, but it only shows up in his eyes. They’ve gotten so used to violence they barely have reactions anymore. 

“Fuck, that’s awful,” Hal breathes, “How’d be get that in the first place?”

For how cold the air is around them, Guy knows his expression shifts to something colder when Hal asks. The other man sees it too, brow creasing behind strands of brown hair. He reaches out to grab Guy’s hand which helps a bit.

Guy feels his lips twisting into a sneer as he spits out “Batman.”

To say Hal looks shocked is an understatement, the man is at a complete loss for words, eyes flicking up and down Guy’s face searching for any sign that Guy is kidding. He looks floored, mouth hanging open slightly and brown eyes wide.

“Ba-Wayne? Wayne did that?” He whisper-shouts, letting go of Guy’s hand and moving to grip Guy’s forearms, “Wasn’t Jason one of his kids? Why would he do that to one of his kids?”

“Jace hasn’t told me everythin’, but it was during a confrontation with the Joker. Jace made Bats choose between lettin’ him shoot the Joker or shooting Jason. Fucker decided to add a third option called slittin’ Jason’s neck.”

Hal’s grip in his arms is near painful now but Guy does nothing to loosen it, “What the fuck, I heard about that - no-one mentioned Spooks slit the kids throat, why would they let him get away with that? Why did you let him get away with that?”

Guy laughs shortly, no humour behind it. “I don’t think anyone knows about that Hal. Bats wasn’t gonna go tellin’ people and Jace doesn’t have many allies. Even then, he doesn’t want me or Talia to do anything about it, says it’s better to stay under the radar. Which I get, but God do I wanna punch the motherfucker.”

“Talia? Hal questions, sucking in a breath.

“Al Ghul, Jason’s kind of mom, she helped him when he came back.” The _to life_ goes unsaid and Hal slumps forward, huffing.

Hal groans, “This is all so complicated, I still can’t get over Bats doing that.”

Guy hums and rubs circles on Hal’s elbows with his thumbs. “Me neither honestly, but Jason isn’t near him anymore, doesn’t want anything to do with him. And Talia isn’t letting him come within 10 miles of Jason, so it should be fine.”

“You’ve met her?” Hal asks, it’s clear he wants to move on, let his mind process the information he’s been given without overloading it with more.

“Yeah.”

“She hot?” Hal grins impishly.

“Jesus, Hal. Yeah, she’s hot, but do you really want to try your chances with the Demon Robin’s assassin mom?” Guy groans. Hal’s face twists in consideration.

“On second thoughts, maybe not.”

“Hm. Yeah, thought so.” Guy remarks, he gets an elbow to the ribs for his troubles.

“Yeah, yeah. C’mon.” He sighs, shoving Hal back and getting up from the bench.

They continue to walk aimlessly around the streets. Guy lets Hal lead the way for a bit, and neglects to tell him he’s been leading the two of them in circles for the past ten minutes. They’ve passed that bar three times now, he’s sure Hal will notice soon enough.

“This area seems really quiet.” Hal remarks out of the blue. They’ve mostly been walking in silence since their stop at the bench.

“It’s Thanksgiving, what do you expect?” 

“I don’t know,” Hal gestures defensively, “There's always a few people out in Coast, the houses seem empty too.”

“Most of the people living here are students or in their twenties, they’ve gone back home.”

“And the ones that don’t?”

“Stay inside, it’s cold.” Guy shrugs, “Let’s go this way.” He says, pulling Hal away from the same corner they’ve walked by for the fourth time now.

“All the buildings look the same here.” Hal comments.

“I could say the same about Coast City,” Guy retorts. Hal frowns his city loyalty shining through, Guy’s never had such attachments to any place he’s stayed in, but if he had to choose, this would be the best.

“Anything interesting happen there lately?” Guy asks, for lack of inspiration of what to talk about.

Hal shrugs, “Not that I know of, haven’t been back there properly for a while.”

That’s odd, Hal has always loved Coast, sometimes it seems like his body can’t comprehend being anywhere other than Coast, despite the years he’s been working as a Lantern. He’s spent what must add up to at least days waxing poetry about living there and he genuinely uses the Coast City memorabilia Guy gives him. He wouldn’t stay away for a while if there wasn’t some underlying reason stopping him.

Guy eyes him critically but doesn’t comment. It’ll bubble up in time if Hal really needs to talk about it. Hal’s as stubborn of a bastard as he is, indomitable will and all, he won’t spill if pushed when not ready. In some ways he’s similar to Jason in that respect.

Checking his phone, he sees that it’s quarter past two, that close enough to three o’clock, right? Might as well go home.

He tilts his head towards Hal, shoving him gently to grab his attention, “You want to start heading back?”

Hal grins at him, every inch the cocky flyboy people know him as, “Thought you’d never ask. Lead the way.”

Guy snorts, grabbing his hand.

_Stupid. Wonderful, but stupid._

Hal doesn’t let go.

* * *

“You two got any weird space stories from the last couple months?” Jason asks once they’re all settled on the couch. They got rid of the small dining table two months back, it wasn't a hard decision, they never used it and Guy combated the weirdness of the open space in that corner of the apartment by piling blankets there, much to Jason’s chagrin.

They’re balancing their plates on trays, piled high with an assortment of food. Jason has the most sensible amount, and while the other two know their eyes are bigger than their stomach on this one, they don’t seem to care. It’s endearing in their own specific brand of the word.

Jason, as always, is sitting in the armchair. He knows he’s not being subtle, both of them are aware as to what he’s doing, but are hesitant to bring it up in front of the other one, so he gets not complaints. It all works out.

Well, not really, the two idiots haven’t confessed yet but Jason is beginning to think they never will (at least until Jason snaps and tells them, a man only has so much patience). They’re practically on top of each other now, as they were last night and yet both seem to skirt around the topic. It’s amusing, but painful to watch.

Both of them look up at him with twin looks of confusion, mid chew. Jesus, these two were really made for each other, weren’t they?

“Hm?”

“Funny space stories, Guy. Entertain me.” Jason says stretching.

Hal’s eyes light up and he grins, leaning forward to speak. Guy catches on immediately and moves forward to stop him, only for Hal to push him back for a construct. Oh, Jason is looking forward to this.

“No, listen. He has to know Guy, it’s important.” Guy flips him the bird, Hal retaliates with the same. “Anyway so, I wasn’t there when it happened but John was and he told me, but basically John and Guy were flying around Sector 583 cause they’d finished up a mission and they wanted to check out the Sector. And apparently Guy got so invested in telling John somethin, he won’t mention what, that he didn’t look where he was going and crashed into a spaceship.”

Jason will admit he lets out a snort when Hal tells him that. This is his revenge for everything that Guy has told Talia. Guy doesn’t seem overly mortified by the story, he’s told Jason worse, but the mixture of Hal explaining it enthusiastically and the embarrassing nature of the tale still makes him a little uncomfortable. Guy may have no dignity, but he still has a bit of pride that Jason knows he’d like to keep. Too bad, he shouldn’t have told Talia about the time Jason almost tripped over his feet when Guy played a video of Kyle speaking to spook him.

“But that’s not all!” Hal continues with a flourish, “Turns out the spaceship belonged to some royal or high nobility in the area and they were _pissed._ They yelled at him for ages. John was too busy laughing so he couldn’t record it but I don’t think it was pretty.”

Jason turns to Guy, whose cheekbone is flushed scarlet, grinning.

“What did they say?”

“A whole lotta _‘how dare you’_ and _‘do you even know who I am?’_ followed by a shitton of alien cursin’” He grumbles, visibly trying to ignore Hal’s cackles or how Jason’s smile widens by stuffing his mouth with food.

Hal reaches over to pat his shoulder consolingly, “There, there we all make dumb mistakes,” he says between giggles.

Jason likes Hal. He’d never properly met the man as Robin and there wasn’t much time to get buddy buddy with heroes as the Red Hood so he was unsure of what to expect when Guy brought him in through the window a few months ago. He’d heard rumours, assumptions, Hal was one of the founding members of the Justice League, even if he was absent in space he was mentioned on a decent basis but Jason always took the gossip he heard with a grain of salt, he knew how false it could be, how people liked to take one personality trait and run with it when forming an opinion. With him it was his rage and with Hal (and most of the Lanterns) it seemed to be widely accepted that they were dumb. Jason has no idea where that came from. Both Hal and Guy were plenty intelligent, it just manifested in different ways, and sure they were impulsive and brash too, but those two traits could co-exist.

Getting back on track, Jason only really had Guy’s and Roy’s word to go off when meeting the man, so he was justifiably apprehensive. But Hal was nice. He was funny and quick witted and if Jason had been hesitant to solidify any opinions of him the first time they met, he sure as hell wasn’t now. (His wall of trust issues really had been knocked down with a sledgehammer hadn’t it? This was a record quickest time he’d decided he liked someone while being mentally okay.) It was glaringly obvious that he and Guy adored each other, in a passionate but soft way he wouldn’t have acquainted with the two men in front of him. Yet even if Hal liked Guy, that didn’t mean he wasn’t up to helping Jason make fun of him sometimes, in an informal manner which was always fun. Talia would mock Guy sometimes, but it was always sharp, what one would consider a ‘polite burn’, she didn’t partake in good natured ribbing.

Hal liked Jason too, which was a relief, he never knew how up to date heroes were on his goings on, or what opinions they held of it. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised, Hal and Guy have similar mentalities when it comes to that, Hal would never have hated him, but it was a recurring anxiety he couldn’t really shake.

He zones back into the real world again, jumping into the middle of a heated conversation Guy and Hal are having over … cacti? Jason isn’t sure, he’ll just keep half an ear out and eat his food until the topic changes and he can join in.

It’s a nice feeling, the security of having people who won’t leave you without a fight, even during some of the better days of the Outlaws his mind constantly drifted to unsavoury _what ifs,_ they were three people who all had their own problems looking for an outlet. The Outlaws was never going to be a long term thing, but even then, he was glad that the friendships he’d made with Roy and Kori were. Roy is still his best friend, and he is so fucking glad and grateful Roy, Lian and Kori are in his life but it’s wonderful to have this stability he exists in now. Guy didn’t take him in because of a shared wish for revenge or need for someone to rely on, he befriended Jason because he wanted to, no ulterior motives involved and that makes this feel so real and secure to Jason. He still gets his worries but less of them and they aren’t much to do with Guy leaving, but rather other things.

As he finally sees an in to cut into the conversation he smiles.

Yeah this is good.

* * *

Jason leaves for his scouting mission on Friday evening. He insists it’s short and that he’ll be back by Sunday at the latest. It isn’t any fighting, just surveillance, he assures them and from what he knows this group just seems like a bunch of meddling amateurs so it won’t be hard. It doesn’t stop Guy from hugging him fiercely though and making him promise to keep in contact. Hal gets the feeling that he’s usually a little worried, but it’s heighted now because of Jason’s recent voice issues. Privately, Hal knows that it won’t affect Jason’s fighting but he doesn’t tell Guy that. He’s allowed to stress a bit and Jason doesn’t seem to mind, even if he acts annoyed by it.

“And if you have any trouble with your scar, text me yeah? Or any trouble at all.” He says for the tenth time. Jason just rolls his eyes and kisses Guy’s cheek.

“Got it. I’ll be fine.”

Guy squeezes him a little tighter, and Hal is one again reminded how much Guy loves this kid.

Jason manages to pull himself out of the death grasp and he walks towards Hal, pulling him in for a quick surprise hug. Hal doesn’t get time to hug back before Jason moves away.

“Good luck.” The younger one says shortly. “Stay safe.”

“I feel like I should be telling you that.” Hal replies and Jason rolls his eyes again.

“Fuck, this is just a simple mission, why are we acting so dramatic?” Jason comments, effectively ruining the moment. It makes Guy frown a little harder but it doesn’t stop him from ruffling Jason’s hair on the boy’s way out.

The silence is stifling once Jason leaves, the listen to the echo of his footsteps on the staircase until it fades, and eventually hear the roar of his bike once he reaches the ground.

“He’ll be fine.” Hal says out loud, directionless. It’s a general statement rather than a targeted comment.

“Yeah.” Is all the reply he gets.

Hal sighs. It’s almost midnight. He’s tired.

“Let’s go to bed.” He says, reaching out to grab Guy’s hand. They are already dressed in what they call pyjamas so all there is to do is flop onto the mattress. 

Hal wonders what it means when letting go of Guy’s hand seems like the odd thing to do. He doesn’t get much time to think though, since sleep takes him quickly and he is pulled off into a dreamless slumber hand still intertwined with Guy’s.

* * *

They both wake up at a reasonable time the next morning, Guy is out of bed when Hal opens his eyes but he still seems out of it when Hal greets him in the kitchen, so he hasn’t been awake for long. Guy cooks that morning, scrambled eggs which has never been Hal’s favourite food but he’s not picky. Can’t afford to be in his line of work.

He sits at the counter, drinking his coffee and watching Guy work. It’s always interesting to watch, even on a level above Hal’s attraction to the man, for all Guy’s rough and tumble he cooks with a comfortable, concentrated fluidity. It isn’t second nature to him, like with Jason, and this kitchen is more alien to him than the bar up on Oa so he stops and starts once or twice but there’s a quiet confidence in his actions. He’s not trying to prove anything or be the best when he’s cooking, he just wants to eat.

In a way he knows the skill is a habit of survival. Guy was taught to bake at a young age by his gran and mom, when he was told that being comfortable in the kitchen was an important skill for any girl to have. He got better at cooking later, when he came out and distanced himself from his family as much as he could and had to learn to support himself. (“Kinda glad they taught me all that domestic shit,” Hal can remember him saying one night, “Woulda struggled a lot more otherwise.”)

Hal, even when his family were at the biggest odds, still had some help from someone, be it Carol or Tom or his air force buddies. Cooking wasn’t a necessary skill to have so he never picked up more than the basics. Instant Ramen was his best friend and he was comfortable with that.

Guy gives him the plate with eggs, smiling tiredly. “That’ll be three dollars Jordan, cough up.”

Hal puts his hand against his chest in mock offence, “What? No discount for your buddy Hal?” He cringes internally.

“Nah, you gotta pay more. Four dollars now.” 

Hal flicks a bit of egg at Guy instead. Guy reaches over to poke his forehead.

The day passes how Hal expected it to. They spend a while watching TV, Hal calls Barry to catch up and they make fun of each other in the way they’re accustomed to. Jason mentioned there being some leftover tuna salad in the fridge which they put on bread and eat for both lunch and dinner, which accurately reflects Hal’s energy levels.

He notices that Guy keeps his phone on hand the entire day, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why. Jason sends small random updates throughout the day, which Guy checks immediately, even though they’re all just different ways of saying ‘all is fine don’t worry’ or random statements like ‘leaf hit me in the face :(‘ or ‘there’s a duck shaped cloud in the sky’. Useless updates, but Hal can tell they put Guy at ease. He’s got an uncharacteristically nervous undertone today, nothing crazy or overwhelming but present, nonetheless. It fades gently, each time Jason sends a dumb text to update them, unnoticeable by the time they’ve finished dinner.

Guy takes their plates to the kitchen, waving off Hal’s attempt to help by saying, “Gotta piss anyway,” in classic Guy fashion. He dumps their stuff in the sink before heading to the bathroom, leaving Hal alone in the living room, tucked into the left hand corner of the sofa. He doesn’t feel like switching anything on to watch, so he just sits and waits, grabbing the nearest blanket to drag round his shoulders.

Hal has heard all those facts that say you are never more than six feet away from a spider or whatever. The version for this apartment is that you are never more than 3 feet away from a blanket.

Hal can hear muffled humming from behind the door of the bathroom. He can’t hear the tune, doubts he’d recognise it anyway. Guy’s music tastes are more modern than his, and he’s got a wider music taste.

It’s something he’s realised after watching Guy more closely, music is an unconscious constant of his. More often than not Hal can catch him tapping his feet or fingers, swaying slightly along to some invisible tune as he goes about his day. Guy hums when he’s happy and his anger, whilst also harsh, is loud and melodical. Sometimes he’ll speak words in a tune that seems unnatural, it borders on a song and Hal thinks it’s enchanting.

Guy sings the most out of all of them, though it’s often purposefully bad, and he fidgets a lot too, jerky movements match a melody that Hal couldn’t begin to think of. It’s a little awkward to see but mesmerising how easily Guy slips between the real world and the music playing in his head. He always gets this funny little expression when he realises he’s zoned out, this wide eyed shocked face that you need to know about to catch.

Guy comes out of the bathroom, still humming, it’s obvious to see how his steps unconsciously fall in place with the rhythm as Guy walks back to the couch. He frowns as he hits what's presumably a wrong note, his whole body freezing for a split second before he amends it and continues on his merry way. Hal loves him so much.

Instead of settling down normally, Guy stops when he’s standing next to the far arm of the sofa before turning abruptly and flopping down. He lands heavily, making Hal jump, his head falling just short of Hal’s crossed legs, Guy’s own legs hanging over the arm of the sofa. It looks awfully uncomfortable but Guy doesn’t seem to mind. Hal on the other hand is still reeling from the impact.

“Fucking hell Guy! Warn a man.”

Guy just grins at him; it looks even more lopsided upside down and Hal’s heart clenches. He shifts, doesn’t realise while he’s doing it that he does, so he’s propped up. He tucks his legs beneath him, until he’s leaning over Guy somewhat. It’s the perfect vantage point where his shadows don’t block Guy’s pale freckles, sparse in the winter sun, from showing up and he isn’t in danger of leaning too far and falling on top of Guy.

Guy has started to speak again, talking about some subject that Hal didn’t catch but he knows the words sound like a song, twisting as Guy speaks them, deep with rough edges curling like smoke. Hal watches as he speaks and takes in every small expression, as Guy chatters on, unaware of Hal’s inner turmoil until he looks up at him properly and falters.

“You alright Jordan?” He asks, eye flicking up.

Hal starts, caught off guard, “Yeah. I’m fine.” He offers a smile. It doesn’t convince Guy, who reaches one of his arm’s up to grab Hal’s shoulder, it ends up tugging him forward a bit, making Hal wobble.

“You sure? Cause you zoned out now and you seemed a bit off when we were talkin’ about Coast so-”

Hal acts on impulse, Guy is worrying over him, using a softened version of his own voice, not sympathetic but rather inviting, and it’s overloading Hal’s senses. He needs Guy to stop talking but doesn’t want to explain why he zoned out and his brain isn’t thinking of any strategies so he shuts it off and moves on instinct.

He grabs the hand Guy placed on his shoulder, intertwining it with his own and pulling it down, using his other hand to move Guy head up before leaning forward and slamming his lips onto Guy’s and kissing him fiercely.

Time doesn’t slow down but it stops all together as it happens. Hal closes his eyes, but he hears (he _feels)_ Guy’s small noise of surprise before he relaxes and, to Hal’s (who was expecting some awful rejection when his brain finally caught up to him) immense surprise, he begins to kiss back.

It’s awkward, their heads are facing in opposite directions and Guy isn’t reclining in the most comfortable position to lean up from, but Hal loves it. If it starts rough and surprising it turns almost uncharacteristically gentle. Guy is using his arms to prop himself up, pushing his mouth against Hal’s slowly but insistently and Hal marvels at the way he can feel Guy’s lips in a smile against his own. The moment is honestly not what he had imagined, but he loves it so much and he finds himself pressing down against Guy’s lips with the same simple sweet urgency. They find a pattern after a few seconds of fumbling, wreaking apart for shorts breaths in a way that feels rhythmically intoxicating. 

Hal doesn’t dare do anything to deepen the kiss, the angle they’re sitting at works against him in that regard but it doesn’t stop Hal from loving it. It is in a way, every cliché but also something new to him. 

They break away, breathing heavily and Guy flops back down before kicking his legs over the sofa and sitting upright. His hair is messy and his face is flushed. The cockiness of his grin is mixed with slight bewilderment, framed by his dim living room light and Hal can’t help himself but surge forward, slotting their lips together again unashamedly. They’ll need to talk about this in a bit, but right now he’s busy.

Guy is ready this time and he wastes no time kissing back. He leans back slightly and once again smiles into the kiss. One of his hands moves to grip Hal’s waist and the other tangles in his hair, palm at the base of his neck to guide Hal gently. Hal pushes forward eagerly, and maybe a bit too much so, because they both end up toppling over, Hal lying on Guy whose back is in turn pressed to the couch. They break the kiss in surprise before Hal snorts and begins to giggle, tucking his face in Guy’s neck to stifle his sudden bout of laughter.

Guy just wraps both his arms around Hal’s waist, turning his face so Hal can feel his breath on his neck and laughs along. All thoughts in Hal’s brain are discarded for the reminder of how much he adores this man.

They don’t talk about it that night. Instead spending most of it making out and giggling like teenagers on the couch. It doesn’t go past that, neither of them makes a move to go further than that which Hal doesn’t mind. It’s already unbelievably wonderful, he doesn’t really need anything else.

They get tired eventually, stumbling their way to the bed. The atmosphere is different now, still a little hesitant, sharing a bed means something different under the circumstances but Hal revels in the way that he isn’t scared to curl up closer to Guy, there is no air of ‘what if’ hanging above him anymore, plaguing his thoughts. He can admire Guy openly now, kiss him goodnight if he wants and it feels like a weight is lifted off his shoulders and allowed him to float in the clouds.

Hal falls asleep with a solid purposeful weight slung over his hip and he feels as though his heart might burst. 

* * *

Hal wakes up slowly, comfortably sprawled over the bed and the left half of Guy's body. His face is buried into Guy’s collar bone and when he lifts it up, he sees a small patch of drool left behind. Whoops.

The alarm reads _10.04_ when Hal lifts his head over Guy’s shoulder to read it. They should probably get up then shouldn’t they? Hal sinks back into the warm mess of blankets and limb for a couple more slow minutes before he decides to properly get up. He also decides, if he has to get out of bed, so does Guy.

Moving forward he plants a small kiss on Guy’s shoulder, running a hand through his hair to pull him gently into consciousness. 

“Guy.” He says, hoarsely. “Wake up.”

He doesn’t get more than a small mumble in reply and when he tries it again it yields similar results so he tries a different tactic. He kisses Guy gently, it’s still something so wonderfully new to him and he loves it, and that does cause him to wake. He hums softly against Hal’s lips and lets out a soft breathy laugh that makes the butterflies in Hal’s stomach flutter a little faster. Their eyes meet when Hal pulls away, lined with freckles, smile lines and dark circles. 

“‘M up, ‘m up.” Guy huffs quietly, “Mornin’” His eyes are filled to the brim with fondness and Hal can’t believe it’s directed at him.

“Hey,” Hal smiles back. “It’s ten am.”

“C’n’t believe you w’ke me up that early.”

“You were complaining about the opposite a few days ago.” Hal reminds him.

Guy frowns and leans forward to kiss Hal, it’s an easy distraction to see through, but as of right now. Hal is falling for it. They lie in silence for a bit after that, Hal lets Guy wake up slowly, tracing patterns on the other man’s neck with his thumb.

“Hey,” He says again, after a bit.

“Mm?” 

“We gotta talk about this,” He probably could have phrased it better but the point gets across.

Guy raises his eyebrow, “And you wanna do that now?”

“Good a time as any.”

“Hm.” Guy agrees. He’s still not entirely awake, it’s clear Hal will have to do more of the talking.

“So, uh. You like me.” 

Guy interrupts by snorting softly. “Yeah. A lot.”

“Good, cause I like you a lot too.” Hal says. “Uh. So, you want to try dating then?” God, he feels like an inexperienced high schooler right now.

Guy smiles. “Yeah. Boyfriends.” 

“Boyfriends.” Hal confirms, tangling their fingers together.

“Well then, babe,” Guy starts, Hal pretends he doesn’t grin at the use of the cheesy pet name, “Since ya woke me up. Let’s go have breakfast.” He kisses Hal’s nose before getting out of bed quickly. Leaving Hal cold and unprepared.

He could really get used to mornings like this.

* * *

It’s about midday when Jason’s message pings on Guy’s phone, announcing that he’s arrived home. The two of them aren’t doing much, then finished breakfast an hour ago and ended up lounging around watching TV for a lack of better things to do, stealing kisses occasionally because they can now.

Guy gets up when the message though, even though there isn’t much to do except wait until Jason gets up the six flights of stairs. Guy mentioned that Jason never gets in the lift, he’d rather scale down the outside of the building, but he doesn’t explain to Hal why. He doesn’t mind, he doesn’t know Jason as well and it isn’t illegal for them to keep secrets.

It takes two minutes for Jason to walk up the stairs, longer than usual which makes Guy frown but Hal is sure there's a reasonable excuse for that. Guy continues to wait impatiently the entire time. He doesn’t pace, per se, but he bounces on the balls of his feet and makes odd little melodic noises, so it’s not hard to decipher his mood.

He freezes however, when he hears the lock click and the door open, to reveal an unharmed looking but tired Jason Todd. His features seem a little paler, coated with exhaustion however, otherwise he seems fine. Hal doesn’t get much time to assess though before Guy is hugging him tightly. Jason huffs in amusement but hugs back, nonetheless.

They pull back, Jason’s hands resting on the crook of Guy’s elbows as his face splits into a small grin. Hal can see him pause and cock his head, eyes flicking over to Hal and then back to Guy in a silent question. When Guy nods in response Jason grins wider, breaking free from Guy and letting out a very loud unexpected _“whoop!”_ which echoes down the stairwell.

He winces and closes the door behind him before spinning back to the two of them, hands on his hips.

“Fu-CKING finally, holy shit!” He yells. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this?”

“This is only the second time we’ve hung out.” Hal points out.

“Yeah, but I’ve been dealing with his pining since last October,” Jason retorts, the amount of time shocks Hal, but he can see the tips of Guy’s ears beginning to redden and decides he can think about that later, this seems like it’s going to be fun. “I mean, I can’t believe you didn’t notice back then. He literally jumped in front of an energy blast for you. He went on this whole spiel about you one night it was super cute but like,” Jason scrunches his nose up in an effort to convey his exasperation. “Talia literally refers to you as ‘his captain’ and Guy gets sappy when on painkillers.”

Jason stops to take a breath, allowing Hal to process all this new information for him to tease Guy with.

“And it’s very sweet, and I’m super happy you guys are dating but I don’t think you could have been more oblivious if you tried. It was funny but frustrating, you know?” Hal can understand that, watching as Jason slows down from his roll to grin sheepishly, “I haven’t slept in a while, I’m gonna go take a nap, congrats you guys.” He smiles genuinely before heading to the bedroom and shutting the door.

Hal gets up and moves next to Guy, who is staring pretty hard at the corner above the door. The top of his cheeks flushed in brilliant contrast with his pale skin. There is something that’s settled in Hal’s chest since yesterday, it’s warm but not scalding and exists with a soothing buzzing that Hal can’t find it in himself to be irritated. He’s not able to describe what it represents, the closest word he can think of is contentment, but it feels like so much more than that. Then again, contentment is in itself a foreign concept to Hal, he’s on the move too much to stop and allow himself time to reflect on his feelings - he’s not an expert on these things.

“So,” Hal begins, looping his arms around Guy’s neck. “What was that all about?”

Guy just pouts. Hal chuckles softly pulling Guy’s face down so Hal can kiss his forehead, smoothing out the wrinkles. 

“I think it’s cute.” Hal pulls him in for a chaste kiss.

“I think it’s embarrassin’” Guy replies.

“Yeah, that checks. Lucky I never told anyone I was hopelessly in love with you, huh? No one can say any stuff like that about me.”

Guy looks at him critically. “I bet if I asked John about it he’d have plenty, you weren’t that good at hidin’ it Jordan.” Well that’s just mean.

“You didn’t notice it!” Hal retorts.

“I was biased. John isn’t and he’s also observant. I mean, fuck, lookin’ back on it neither of us were subtle.”

“Yeah, I guess.” There had been some really obvious signs, hadn’t there? He can recall several times where Guy has just outright flirted with him. Well, Lanterns weren’t really known for being observant or having situational intelligence. And they got there in the end, which is what really counts right?

God they were idiots, weren’t they?

He tells Guy so and the man snorts, grabbing one of Hal’s hands and swaying slightly. Hal is reminded of a similar time, a few months ago when it was louder and he was moments before realizing he was in love with the man before him. 

Guy makes up his own tune this time, humming in stops and starts as he leads Hal.

The warmth in Hal’s chest flares up as Guy decides to spin them abruptly but it doesn’t die back down again when they come to a halt. He doesn’t mind, why would he? It’s a good feeling, one he doesn’t think is ever going to get old.

“Babe?” Guy asks.

“Shit, sorry. Zoned out.” Hal replies.

“Mm. Watcha thinkin’ about?” They’re still swaying to some irregular beat.

Hal grins cockily, “Want to take a guess?”

Guy snorts and leans forward to kiss him instead of replying, slowly steadily, arms looped around Hal’s waist and he deepens it. Hal sighs softly, fingers playing with the short strands of hair on Guy’s neck.

And this? This small spark of reassurance is everything to Hal. The relationship is new but there’s a silent agreement of support between them, whatever happens. And if that support brings with it all the wonderful emotions Hal has felt within the last twenty hours then it’s well worth the nervousness and wait the uncertain times before wrought upon him.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked! i do love these dumb gay idiots.  
> anyway just to let y'all know, i've got the next part planned out (which is gonna be jaykyle woop!) but i'm in a bit of a stump for what to do after that. a lil filler? a bat confrontation/ leadup to that. what do yall think?  
> check out my tumblr, [starboysdcdumpster](https://starboysdcdumpster.tumblr.com/)


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